Improvement in the peepaeation of palm-leaf waep and woof foe weaving



@nim *me @anni @una FRANKLIN PERRIN, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 65,266, dated May 28, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT 4IN THE PREPARATION 0F PALM-LEAP WARP AND WOOI FOR WEAVING.

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TO ALL WIIOM IT MAY CONGERN:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN PERRIN, of Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in the Preparation of Palm-Leaf` Warp and Woof for lVeaving; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings, which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practise it.

The'palm leaf-oi` commerce, it ,is well known, consists of joined folds united throughout a considerable portion of their length at their edges, in the manner of the folds of a well-known variety of fau, and joined at one end to a stalk or butt common to all the folds. IIcretofore, in preparing ,the leaf for braiding, and also for weaving, the practice has been to subdivide the leaf into sections composed of several folds, which sections were then divided into strips by drawing them over knives arranged like one row'ol the teeth of a hackle. This method of operation, it is obvious, left the strips which were formed at the edges of thesections double in thick ness, or united at one edge, andin braiding said double strips were .torn apart by the operativeswith but little trouble; but in weaving, the operatives have to stop their looms whenever they find such united strips, and the consequence is delay and the production of inferior goods, the looms working best' when run without stoppages.

In thepractiee of my invention I make use of a ligature around the folds of a leaf', or 4around the folds of each considerable section into which' whole leaves may be divided for convenience, the ligature being located near the stem where that part of the leat which is suitable for use terminates. rIhe object of this ligature is to enable the operative, with ease and dispatch, to tear or split the natural joining of adjacent folds to a xed and determined distance, beyond. which, for a lpurpose yet to be referred to, the natural `joiningremains intact. Without employment of this ligature it will be obvious 'that each natural fold or joining could not be separated just to or substantially to the same line or plane, except by an expenditure of time and care which in practice would not be easily attained, and could not be allowed. l

When the ]'oinings at the edges ot' each fold in the leaf or section about whichA theligature is put are split or torn thereto, then th'c butt or stem is severed close to that edge of the-ligature which is most remote from the tip ot' the leaf. Then the ligature is ren'roved, and the leaf or its large sectionsarc divided into smaller sections containing as many of the divided folds as can well be split into strips on the knives before mentioned, all parts ot' those smaller sections heilig held together by the ljunction at the edges of the folds which were not torn or severed by reason oi' the protection air'ordcd by the ligature; after each of these small sections has been divided into narrow strips of the right width for weaving, these short lengths of junctions are removed by sevcring from the bundle of strips into which the small section is now formed a length equal to the width of the ligature, so that Ain said bundle there romain no two strips united by the natural joining, and the attention of a weaver of -these strips can be given unintcrrupteilly to the care of the loom. I v

'Io conduce to the better understanding of my invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing, in which A shows the leaf as imported` t denoting the hut-t or stem, having the leaf' I) extending therefrom, said leaf being composed of layers of substantially even width joined at the edges to the adjacent layers, as seen in section atB; but as theyaro thus joined from the butt outward through part of their lengtlronly, they appear in edge view somewhat as seen at E, a side view of each layer being about as seen atvC. 'Ihe divisions c represent the small sections formed in the old process lby splitting a few of' the natural joinings down to the butt, from which they are severed on thc'line d. In this old process, it will be remembered that when each section c is split into strips, as seen at l), there will be as many narrow double strips ljoined at one edge, as there are layers composing the folds of the sections, iut in my method or process I take thc leaf or a'largc section ot' a leaf', as seen at F; having passed a ligature, preferably otl rubber, over the folds ucar the butt, I split cach and every fold from the commencement ol' its joining down to the ligature seen at n, the separated layers being as seen at'j', leaving no union whatever down to the ligature. When all of the layers are thus separated, I remove the ligature, having first cut oil' the butt on the lino y g. 'Lhen I. take a snflicient number of llayers from tho lot which was encompassed by the ligature, and pass them through the splitting knives, the slight union at the butt parts of these layers serving to keep them in proper relation to each other, and in parallelism, after which I cut oil' from the butt ends that part which was covered by the ligature. By a subscquent selecting or sorting process, the narrow strips nre assembled into bundlesl ol' nnil'orm length, as seen atpz.

I claim the employment of a ligature in tho preparation ot' palu1-1eat` strips, substantially as set forth. FRANKLIN PERRIN.

Witnesses:

liuaxcxs Gouw. S. B. Kinnnn. 

